Version: Superchrist live 2007.07.24

“I had this mellow guitar riff that was very simple--almost a ballad-- and we kept messing around with it. And one day, we thought, ‘What if we played it really loud.’ And that was it. Suddenly it transformed into this beastly thing.” Billy Corgan

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons over the years about not taking songs at face value when they emerge. I think that’s something Flood taught us along the way. ‘Doomsday Clock’ started off almost a folk calypso number and it turned into this . . . Apocalypso. We’re believers that a good song is a good song whether it’s played on an electric guitar or a zither.” Jimmy Chamberlin

Is everyone afraid?
Is everyone ashamed?
They’re running towards their holes, to find out
Apocalyptic means are lost among our dead
A message to our friends to get out
There’s wages on this fear
Oh so clear
Depends on what you’ll pay to hear
They’re bound to kill us all
In whitewashed halls
Their jackals lick their paws
Please don’t stop
It’s lonely at the top
These lonely days
When will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart
Not broken
I love life every day
In each and every way
Kafka would be proud, to find out
I’m certain of the end
It’s the means that has me spooked
It takes an unknown truth to get out
I’m guessing I’m born free, silly me
I was meant to beg from my knees
Please don’t stop
It’s lonely at the top
These lonely days
When will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart
These lonely days when will they ever stop?
We gotta dig in, gas masks on
Wait in the sunshine, all bug-eyed
If this is living?
Sakes alive!
Well then they can’t win
No one survives
Is everyone afraid?
You should be ashamed
Apocalyptic screams
Mean nothing to the dead
Kissing that ‘ol sun
To know all there is
Come on, last call
You should want it all
Ah, it’s lonely at the top
These lonely days
When will they ever stop
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart
These lonely days
When will they ever stop
This ticking in my heart
Is everyone afraid?

Faith lies in
The ways of sin
I chased the charmed
But I don’t want them anymore
And in their eyes I was alive
A fool’s disguise
Take me away from you
Shame my tongue
Fat with promise all along
But when I woke up from that sleep
I was happier than I’d ever been
When you decide
That your life is a prize
Renew and revive
It’s alright honey
It’s alright, yeah
Happiness will make you wonder
Will I feel OK?
It scares the disenchanted
Far away
Yeah I want something new
But what am I supposed to do about you
Yeah I love you, it’s true
Life’s a bummer
When you’re a hummer
Life’s a drag
Ask yourself a question
Anyone but me
I ain’t free
Ask yourself a question
Anyone but me
I ain’t free
Do you feel
Love is real?

The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
And what do I get, for my pain
Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Even though I know-i suppose I’ll show
All my cool and cold-like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Now I’m naked, nothing but an animal
But can you fake it, for just one more show
And what do you want, I want to change
And what have you got
When you feel the same
Even though I know-i suppose I’ll show
All my cool and cold-like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I’m the only one
Tell me there’s no other one
Jesus was an only son
Tell me I’m the chosen one
Jesus was an only son for you
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
And I still believe that I cannot be saved

No matter where you are
I can still hear you when you drown
You’ve traveled very far
Just to see you I’ll come around
When I’m down
All of those yesterdays
Coming around
No matter where you are
I can still hear you when you dream (on some versions, “scream”)
You traveled very far
You traveled far, like a star
And you are
All of those yesterdays
Coming around
Is it something someone said?
Was it something someone said?
Yesterday the sky was you
And I still feel the same
Nothing left for me to do
And I still feel the same
I wish, I wish I could fly
I wish, I wish I could lie
I will, I will try
I will, I will
Goodbye

“This was one of the songs we had earmarked for Roy Thomas Baker to produce. As we later told Roy, we had heard all these stories about him being completely insane which turned out not to be true. He’s one of the most hard-working, aware and brilliant people we’ve ever worked with and we couldn’t wait to hear what he did with that song.” Billy Corgan

“For me that track is all about Roy–the way he produced, that drum sound. Roy doesn’t produce songs; he produces moments. We were constantly trying our best to put a smile on Roy’s face.” Jimmy Chamberlin

Shot down I stood
Withstood my neighborhood
I got it wrong
But I could
Follow love lest I learn
It’s light
To bring the light
I fought with all my might, with light
Oh bring the light
Light, bring the light
I never felt so good and right
But tonight you’ll never need another sound
Oh, bring the light
Bring the light to me
Here and gone oh I trust
You’d spit upon my dust
And mix my ash with your blood
A son of god you know you must arrive
In the light
Bring the light, let’s bring the light
Light, oh bring the light
Light, bring the light
It’s yours not mine
If you just want to survive
Go grab a glimpse of any star in heaven’s high
I never felt so real and loved and alive
No shadows follow me unsung
In the light, bring the light to me
A flower song, clear and bright
Is it wrong, in neon white?
To insist you are mine
Standing dumb in the light
Bring the light
Oh, bring the light
Bring the light!
Light, bring the light
I never felt so real and right and alive
Don’t let them steal from you what’s yours by right
Light, bring the light
You know there comes a place and time
You can’t deny
With every movement shadows cast and align
Bring the light, bring the light
Bring the light let’s bring the light
Light, bring the light

Additional Info: From Zeitgeist track by track interview:
“That’s a sexy song made by two men living in a house alone together for four or five months in Scottsdale. There needed to be some sexiness somewhere.” Jimmy Chamberlin
“That song was another one that I brought to Arizona with me. And right away it sounded like ‘95 Pumpkins, like it could have been right off of the Mellon Collie record. I feel sorry for Jimmy because he has to hear me complain about such things. And we went back to what Flood taught us and tried the song some other ways. One day we just changed the beat, and it just made the song.” Billy Corgan

Additional Info: From Zeitgeist track by track interview:
“Billy bought this guitar from this guy from Paris (James Trussart) who makes steel guitars and he brought a couple examples of his work to our rehearsal space. Billy grabbed one and plugged in into his amp and immediately started playing the riff from ‘Tarantula’ and the song was written pretty much on the spot.” Jimmy Chamberlin
“That’s our nod to the Scorpions, and UFO--a loving nod to the hard rock bands of that era.” Billy Corgan

To the center of the earth
Or anywhere god decides
Full of fever pulling forth
We hear our call as all
And to the center of the earth
As if written in
And dna is reaching out
To your frequency
I want to live
And don’t want to die
I want to live
I want to try
All in prayer
Prayer in all
All are scared
Scared of all
Black rooms are calling
To men in leather coats
White labs are cooking
Up the silver ghost
The glass migrates under
Her translucent skin
And all the spiders wonder
What we’ve got us in
All is you
You are all
All with you
You in all
I want to live
I don’t want to die
I want to live
I want to try
So, it’s all very obtuse
Because it’s all like, like, I don’t know
So, like, I started thinking
That everything I operate on
Is based on what I believe god was telling me to do
God could be my intuition or whatever
But I always assume
I always assume that the voice I hear is the voice of god
Then I started thinking
What if I’m insane
So I’m operating on the premise
That I’m hearing the voice of god
Or what I perceive to be god speaking to me
Or through me
But maybe I’m completely in…
So all my…
Demagoguery in my life about me thinking that my life has importance
My, my..
Thinking that my life has importance
My, my, my thought of it
And the fact that I believe that I’m following my intuition
Which in and of itself may be completely false
So then I started freaking out thinking…
Of itself may be completely false
And again this creature that believes that he’s acting upon
Heavenly intuition, but meanwhile he’s totally rampant
And I started thinking maybe this is the cause
Of all the negativity against…
And I started thinking maybe this is the cause
Of all the negativity against…
And I started thinking maybe this is the cause
Of all the negativity against…
So beats the final coda
Of our vinyl storm
One more cherry cola
To lift up her dead arms
A dream of soft focus sunsets
Filters through the din
We are losing contact
As she dials it in
She can hear glass calling
Or is it someone that looks like him
She eyes TV reflection
And nods a knowing look
She says it doesn’t matter
She’d never liked her looks
I have seen a thousand fractures
I have seen everything
Cause knowing is its own answer
Love something in a book
There’s not much left to ponder
Not much left to cook
As she counted the spiders
As they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders
As they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders
As they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders
As they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders
As they crawled up inside her
As she counted the spiders, oh

Shakedown 1979
Cool kids never have the time
On a live wire
Right up off the street
You and I should meet
Junebug skipping like a stone
With the headlights pointed at the dawn
We were sure we’d never see an end to it all
And I don’t even care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don’t know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust I guess
Forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below
Double cross the vacant and the bored
They’re not sure just what we have in store
Morphine city slippin’ dues
Down to see
That we don’t even care
As restless as we are
We feel the pull
In the land of a thousand guilts
And poured cement
Lamented and assured
To the lights and towns below
Faster than the speed of sound
Faster than we thought we’d go
Beneath the sound of hope
Justine never knew the rules
Hung down with the freaks and the ghouls
No apologies ever need be made
I know you better than you fake it
To see that we don’t even care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don’t know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust I guess
Forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below
The street heats the urgency of now (written: sound)
As you can see there’s no one around

Additional Info: From Zeitgeist track by track interview:
“It started off as this weird little shuffle thing. We were arguing back and forth in November of ‘05 whether we should have a shuffle on the record. Billy wanted a shuffle. So it became a search for a new way to do a shuffle. We were also listening to Fela, all these 14-minute Nigerian jams and watching documentaries about him. So we went down this road of seeing how power can come from repetition.” Jimmy Chamberlin
“In Pumpkins logic, if you’re going to make people wait for six minutes for the payoff, the money shot better be good. Ultimately, this became the musical statement of the album. The drum take is one of Jimmy’s crowning achievements. It’s worth the price of admission. Lyrically, the song reflects the decision I made when we were in Scottsdale to stop watching all network or cable news. I noticed the effect that had on me–I stopped being afraid. In general, I’m not afraid of getting on the stage in front of 60,000 people, so why should I be afraid of a plane crashing into my house? I was trying to wrap my head around the way we’re being force-fed a level of paranoia. It’s a personal reflection on what it all means. The ‘revolution’ in the lyrics isn’t the revolution of picking up a gun. That’s never worked, and it never will work. Jesus was right.” Billy Corgan

Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t live for tomorrow,
Tomorrow’s much too long
I’ll burn my eyes out
Before I get out
I wanted more
Than life could ever grant me
Bored by the chore
Of saving face
Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I’ll tear my heart out
Before I get out
Pink ribbon scars
That never forget
I tried so hard
To cleanse these regrets
My angel wings
Were bruised and restrained
My belly stings
Today is
Today is
Today is
The greatest day
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you
Today is the greatest
Today is the greatest day
Today is the greatest day
That I have ever really known

It’s you that I adore
You will always be my whore
You’ll be a mother to my child
And a child to my heart
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you’re the beauty in my world
Without you there aren’t reasons left to find
And I’ll pull your crooked teeth
You’ll be perfect just like me
You’ll be a lover in my bed
And a gun to my head
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you’re the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I’ve left to die
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever leave behind
In time
In you I see dirty
In you I count stars
In you I feel so pretty
In you I taste god
In you I feel so hungry
In you I crash cars
We must never be apart
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever seek to find
Lovely girl you’re the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I’ve left behind
In time
We must never be apart
And you’ll always be my whore
Cause you’re the one that I adore
And I’ll pull your crooked teeth
You’ll be perfect just like me
In you I feel so dirty
In you I crash cars
In you I feel so pretty
In you I taste god
We must never be apart

Additional Info: From 5:27-30, "listen for the police car go by" (Billy Corgan on Pisces Iscariot liner notes).
"I met this girl in Dallas when we were on tour with the chili peppa's and that was where I got the idea for the name for the song because when she said her name I thought wow, what a great title for a song. 2 1/4 years later I run into this same girl at a party and I say did you hear that song we recorded using your name, Starla? And she said, no my name is Darla but hey Starla, Darla whatever it doesn't matter, so there you go. Never trust a girl who ends up with well I can't say." (Billy Corgan on Pisces Iscariot liner notes).

So tired of crying
I’m out on the road again
I’m on the road again
So tired of crying
I’m out on the road again
On the road again
Ain’t got nobody to call my special friend
The first time I traveled out in the rain and snow
First time I traveled out in the rain and snow
In the rain and snow
Didn’t have no money, didn’t have nowhere to go
I don’t want to go back on the road again
Mother said i’m not her special friend
She said, “lord, have mercy on my wicked son”

I hear your winter
I hear you rain
I’ve failed your summer ways
And I feel no pain
I hear what you want
And I feel that way
I hear what you want
And I feel that way
I hear you fade away
And I hear you crawl
I gave my life away
And I feel no pain
And I feel no pain
And I feel no pain
And I feel your pain
And she was my lover so sweet
And she was my angel
And what I’ve recovered of me
I put into a box underneath my bed
When you lie in your bed
And you lie to yourself
When you lie in your bed
And you lie to yourself
Lie
Lie
Bang bang you’re dead hole in your head
Bang bang you’re dead hole in your head
Bang bang you’re dead hole in your head
Bang bang you’re dead hole in your head
I hear what you want
And I feel that way
I hear what you want
And I feel that way
(Alright, this take, don’t give a fuck.)